Welcome to the IFLR1000’s 2016 guide to Energy and infrastructure

Results

Energy and infrastructure 2016 is the fourth edition of our sector specific guide to the legal markets of Asia-Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Nordic and Baltic region and Sub-Saharan Africa.

In the last six months our team of legal journalists in London, Hong Kong and New York have interviewed lawyers, industry figures and in-house counsel active in the relevant sectors to source their opinions on law firm performance and the state of the energy and infrastructure sectors in their jurisdiction and regions, and what they see as the main talking points, challenges and areas of activity.

A new feature for the online publication of our research results for Energy and infrastructure 2016 will be the introduction of detailed information and analysis of the most important projects that emerged from the research through the IFLR1000 Deal Database.

We began building this fully searchable database of significant deal records from over 120 countries last year, and Energy and infrastructure 2016 will be the first of our larger research projects to utilise it.

Later this year, you will be able to view records of significant energy and infrastructure projects across the regions we cover in the guide, which will include:

  • Key structural information and market context.
  • Details of all firms and parties involved (when public).
  • Links to related deals in the same area of practice or industry sector and to in-depth analysis of selected deals on IFLR.com.

Scope

Our energy and infrastructure ranking tables are divided by industry sector rather than practice area and based solely on project development related work, be it environmental impact assessments, concession agreements or disputes over royalties.

Sectors covered by the research include:

  • Energy (renewable and traditional energy, generation and distribution)
  • Mining
  • Oil and gas (upstream and downstream)
  • Social infrastructure (hospitals, schools, public buildings and developments)
  • Telecommunications networks
  • Transport (road, rail, sea and air ports)
  • Utilities (sewage, waste and water)

Within these sectors we have analysed law firm performance across a range of skill sets including:

  • Contracts
  • Disputes
  • EPC
  • PPP/PFI
  • Project development
  • Public procurement
  • Regulatory

Survey statistics

 The 2016 survey is the most in depth research the IFLR1000 has ever undertaken into the energy and infrastructure markets. The survey statistics are below:

  • 110 jurisdictions covered
  • 7343 industry figures contacted as part of the client feedback survey
  • 890 law firms participated in the research
  • 1551 individual lawyers recommended

Methodology

Our law firm rankings are based on three key criteria:

Transactional evidence
We ask all firms to provide transactional highlights from their last 12 months of work. We also analyse statistical evidence of transaction data provided by market survey title Dealogic.

Client feedback
We speak with a wide range of corporate and in-house contacts to get their feedback and opinions on the firms and lawyers they use. We ask for feedback on the following attributes and areas:

  • Technical ability
  • Accessibility and communication
  • Depth of team
  • Value for money
  • Client/lawyer relationship
  • International network

Peer feedback
We conduct an online ranking feedback survey of law firm partners to get their thoughts and feedback on our law firm rankings and recommended lawyers. We also conduct phone and face-to-face interviews with leading practitioners.

Client feedback survey

As part of our research we asked industry figures to answer a few short questions about their experience in these key sectors in the past year. The results are below:

How much of an impact will the low global oil price have on the number of new energy or infrastructure projects initiated in these key markets?

What level of private equity investment into energy or infrastructure projects have you seen in these key markets in the last three years?

How frequently is debt finance (project bonds and other capital markets instruments) used to fund new energy or infrastructure projects in these key markets?